Rise of the Dalish
by TaylaNovak
Summary: The Sabrae clan have lived in peace for years. Sarana and Tamlen have declared their love for one another and the celebration of an ancient festival had begun. But one night changes her life forever when a group of humans destroy her innocence and ignite the flames of hatred within her. How is she going to stop the Blight when she has to be surrounded by the species she hates?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OCs

Summary: The Sabrae clan have lived peace for three years. Sarana and Tamlen have declared their love for one another and the celebration of an ancient festival had begun. But one night changes her life forever when a group of humans destroy her innocence and ignite the flames of hatred within her. How is she supposed to stop the Blight when she has to be surrounded by the species she hates on a daily basis?

Read and Review as always!

"Come on Tamlen!" She called as she climbed higher into the Ilana, the great tree. Her companion stood on the ground with his hands on his hips, smiling as his friend climbed nimbly into the highest branches of the tree, placing lanterns along the way to light up the Ilana for tonight's festival. Tamlen sighed and leaped onto the first branch. When he reached the top, he found Sarana basking in the sunlight with her eyes closed. Despite her love of doing so, Sarana's skin was as white as snow with long beautiful hair blacker than night. He reached out to trace the tattoos on her face, an action he'd done many times in their youth. She did not stir and allowed his fingers to continue their descent to her flat, toned belly that lay exposed to the world due to her choice of armor.

"Lethallan." He said, and she opened her eyes and smiled, melting his heart. "Ma'arlath. (I love you.)"

"Ma emma lath. (You are my love.) My vhenan'ara. (heart's desire.)" Bright silver eyes bore into his, shining with affection. "Come on, we have to finish preparing the tree or else it will not shine with the stars for the festival." Sarana turned and swung herself down to the ground where she was suddenly picked up by Fen, a tall handsome elf, one of the best hunters of the clans and her former suitor. He'd grown up when the lovers as well and her rejection of his love had not diminished their friendship.

"Lethallan, tonight we shall feast." He placed her on the ground before spinning her around. "And dance and sing the songs of the people." He finally put her down and she laughed at his antics.

It truly was a joyful occasion for the Sabrae clan. Everyone was in a joyous mood. It had been three years since they'd found the Ilana and were able to set up a permanent settlement. They were not far from a human village and could trade and barter when needed and since they were not constantly on the move, the supplies lasted much longer. And so, the people were happier.

When night began to descend, the lanterns were lit and a fire was built beneath it. The Sabrae clan celebrated with food and wine and ale and danced around the bonfire, music filling the forest with a merryful melody. Sarana and Tamlen twirled across the grass in each other's arms. In those moments, it would seem as though the history of the Elves were still intact, that they were back in Elvhenan, the city of their ancestors, celebrating ancient traditions in their prime.

But all of the merrymaking, all of the happiness and joy was shattered in an instant when a female scream was heard. The forest became deathly silent and the elves turned to the source of the cry. One of their sisters lay dead upon the ground, an arrow protruding from her chest and a male human standing over her.

"Well, look what we have here." He said, waving a dagger in the air. The leaves all around them parted and nearly 20 more humans emerged, all of them brandishing weapons. "Looks like a party. Mind if we join?"

"Lasaura." Sarana gasped at seeing her clanmate's blood stain the forest soil. The male human stepped into the clearing, arrogantly, as though the Dalish would not avenge their fallen sister, murdered in cold blood.

"Your kind ain't welcome near here, Knife-ears." said the man as Fen stepped up to him. The elf said nothing as he silently looked the man up and down for a moment, before suddenly stabbing the human in the chest with a dagger he kept sheathed on his lower back. The other humans attacked.

Sarana tried to get the children and elders to safety as the rest of the hunters leaped into battle. Once they were in the safety of the trees, she turned around, to her horror and watched as the humans set fire to the Ilana. Fen was fighting like a madman, heavily bleeding but adrenaline and anger forcing him to keep going. Then an arrow appeared in his chest. Sarana couldn't even hear herself scream. She ran to her friend's side.

"Fen! Fen!" He gasped, his breaths heavy and slow. "Fen, please, do not leave me. Not now, not yet! Please!"

He took her hand slowly and placed his knife in her hand, closing her fingers around it. Then he moved his other hand to his neck and removed his necklace, made of animal teeth and a pair of hall horns. "Ma sa'lath." (My one love.) He forced a weak smile and kissed her hand before closing his eyes, forever. As tears streamed freely down her face, Sarana was unaware of the human coming up behind her, until she felt his blade against her neck.

"Hey, savage." He taunted. "Maybe I'll take you home...turn you into a woman ehh?" He chuckled...before a dozen appeared in his chest.

She looked at Tamlen as he lead the other hunters, having retrieved their weapons, into battle, slaughtering any humans that had not retreated. The Ilana burned, many of her clan lay dead and rivers of blood flowed beneath her feet, Sarana scanned the horrific sight with dead eyes.

"Lethallan?" Tamlen's hand upon her shoulder did nothing to awaken them. "Lethallan, we must leave. We will take the body. Come." He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. He searched her eyes for signs of life, but he saw none of the light and purity that had been present before. The other hunters retrieved the bodies and the Sabrae clan disappeared into the forest, leaving the fires to burn away the memories of the fallen and the crimes of the humans.

"O Falon'Din Athanavur-Friend to the Dead. Guide his feet, calm his him to his rest." Sarana herself placed the tree over her friend's grave. There was a grand total of 13 dead. Each of them received a tree placed over their graves, and words were spoken to ease their journey into the afterlife. Sarana remained at Fen's gravesite for the rest of the day, even when the clan had declared that they needed to move on.

"Lethallan." said Tamlen as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "The clan is leaving. We must be among them."

"My friend, my brother lies before me...buried beneath the forest. His body seeks to heal it for the wrongdoing of those shem." He visibly seemed taken back at her use of the word, but he held his tongue as she continued. "We can not celebrate in peace. They traveled a day, just to kill us. Fen died for nothing. His blood should not have been spilled!" She shivered and hugged herself, pressing his dagger against her abdomen. "I will take his place."

"Sarana." Tamlen began, but she stood up and stormed away. "Sarana, you need not fight. The humans are dead, and we will never enter this part of the country again."

"It will not erase the memory of what they did!" She whirled on him, tears threatening to fall once more. "They forced us from our home, AGAIN! What did we do? We ran. Those arrogant shem! We should have gone back to the village, and killed them all."

"No, we should not have. That would have only brought an army down on our heads."He cautioned, gently stopping her by taking her hand. He turned her to face him and kissed her wrists. "No one will ever hurt us again. I promise."

"You cannot promise such a thing. Not when shems still live, for their hearts will always be black and withered and hungry. I will never trust their kind again. How foolish was I to believe that we could live in peace?" She sighed and wiped her eyes. "I want to learn to fight."

"Sarana, no."

"Yes. Fen was the best, now he is dead and cannot teach me." She looked him in the eye. "I love you, my Tamlen, but if you will not train me, I will find one who will." She took out Fen's knife, a beautiful silver blade with silver symbols etched into the metal. "Fen's dagger will taste shem blood again."

Sarana was true to her word. Within months, she had indeed taken Fen's place as the best hunter and warrior of the clan, surpassing even Tamlen. She took to carrying Fen's dagger strapped to her lower back, just as he had, and wearing his halla horns as a headdress so it would seem as though she had actual horns of her own. Her heart was no longer light and happy. It was dark and heavy with hatred and thirsted for vengeance for the wrongs done to her people. She would soon see it sated.

The shems were slow and erratic as they blundered through the forest like ignorant children. It didn't take much to slip in front of them. They burst onto the path just as Sarana stepped out of the bushes with her bow readied and aimed at one of the men's chests.

"Please, wait!" He cried. She fired, hitting him straight through the heart.

"Why are you here? You have about three seconds to answer." She said coolly as Tamlen joined her. His eyes narrowed at the body and he glanced at her, but she remained focused on her task.

"Please! We were just searching a cave near here and found some ruins and treasure and-" She shot the second man in the forehead.

"If you found treasure, surely you would have some with you." She said, readying another arrow.

"Wait! Please!" The last man cried as he fumbled to show her piece of treasure.

"This is elvish writing." Tamlen snatched it from the man. "Where did you find this?"

"A cave in the northern reaches of the forest. It was filled with darkspawn so we didn't get very far in. Please, will you let me g-" Sarana loosed the arrow, hitting him right in the neck.

"That was unnecessary, Lethallan." said Tamlen.

"Their existence is unnecessary." She turned toward the camp.

"Wait! Don't want to see the cave?"

"I would rather die than trust the word of shemlen."

"Sarana, we could learn more about our past. Come with me, and when we find out whether it is worth looking into, we will return and summon Keeper Marethari. Please, Lethallan."

She sighed and absently reached behind her and ran her fingers across Fen's dagger, taking comfort from thoughts of him. He would've wanted to explore the cave. "Fine. Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

The trek to the cave was an odd one. They encountered a small pack of wolves which were no problem. Sarana stopped to pray over the dead body of the halla on which they had been feeding and removed its horns to tie at her waist. Tamlen gave her another strange look at this, but said nothing. The pair approached the cave warily, neither having remembered ever seen it within the time that the clan had been camped in this part of the forest.

"This must be it. I don't recall this being here before, do you?" Tamlen said.

"No, and that worries me. We should be wary."

"Always the careful one." Tamlen tried to joke, but she didn't even crack her lip. "Come on then. Let's check it out. I'm not running back unless I know there's something worth reporting."

Sarana sighed and unsheathed her bow. "So be it." She lead the way forward into the dark. They slowly descended into the earth until they were engulfed by blackness and the only sound that could be heard was both of their ragged breathing. Elves were not meant be inside the land they cherished, not like dwarves beneath the stone.

Finally, they approached a doorway with spider cocoons above the door. "These ruins look more elven than human. It would seem the shem were telling the truth." Tamlen said.

Sarana scoffed. "Want to bet it was only because I had an arrow aimed at their hearts."

"But you killed them anyway, lethallan." remarked her friend. "Their deaths were needless."

"So were those lost the day the Ilana was burned." She snapped and strode forward.

"No, wait!" The warning was lost as giant spiders descended from the ceiling. Surana drew her daggers and immediately leaped on top of one, stabbing it through the head. Tamlen quickly rained arrows onto any that nearly caught her off guard as she slew spider after spider with a precision and efficiency that would have impressed the greatest warriors. Tamlen finally unsheathed his sword and shield and waded into the fray behind her.

"Well, that was refreshing." Sarana wiped off her blades and sheathed them while Tamlen caught his breath. She went to inspect a pile of bones and found some leather armor and health poultices, which she stashed away before turning to Tamlen. "Ready?" She noticed that he was still giving her that strange look. "What? Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

"Because you are changed, lethallan. Ever since that day, you are not yourself." He answered.

"I am what the shem made me." She retorted.

"You are what you choose to be." He growled, turning toward the only fully intact door of the decaying ruins. She followed with her bow unsheathed.

The hallways were broken and covered with rubble where the ceiling and walls had caved in, the holes to be filled with dirt and giant vines. They came upon a chamber, filled with spiders that were quickly dispatched of. A quick search gave them lyrium potions and some more armor that were beyond repair and swiftly discarded. The pair pushed on until they came to an intersection.

"I can't believe this."Tamlen suddenly exclaimed. He walked over to a statue that was gray and crafted from stone that was so worn that no details could be seen. It was still obviously a person, wearing a robe although the gender could not be determined. In its hand was a long spear of rusted bronze, and a pair of wing-like shapes sprouted from its back. "You recognize this statue, don't you?" Tamlen asked.

"It's worn, but it looks vaguely familiar…" Sarana said, squinting at the effigy

"This looks like human architecture with a statue of our people, from before the time that we were enslaved by humans. Can these ruins really date back to the time of Arlathan?"

"So much of our past is lost…"Sarana whispered.

"I'd never have guessed ancient elves might've lived here...with humans."

"Neither would I. We should keep moving." Sarana said, walking towards the door at the end of the intersection. As soon as she took three strides, there was an explosion of green gas from beneath her feet. "It's a trap!"

Skeletons began to rise from the ground and both Sarana had to try not to choke on the poisonous air around them as they battled the undead bones.

Tamlen kicked each of the skeletons to make sure they wouldn't rise again. "I hate this place. It makes me nervous." He leaned against the wall to wait for the effects of the gas to wear off.

"Here." Sarana handed him a health poultice. "So talk, if that will calm you down."

He downed it in a single gulp making a comically disgusted face afterwards that made her smirk. "My love still resides within you."

"What?"

"Nothing. Hey, weren't you supposed to be assisting Master Ilen today. How'd you end up coming with me?"

"I wanted to be with you, of course."

He scoffed, and she scowled. "I am surprised, lethallan. It seems you never do anything besides train and hunt."

"I need to practice so I can protect our people." Sarana pressed her back against the cold stone of the wall and took deep breaths. The gas was still affecting her.

"What did Fen say to you before he died?" Tamlen asked abruptly. He looked at her but she didn't turn to return his gaze.

"Something private."

"Tell me, lethallan." He coaxed.

She sighed and looked downward. "He called me Ma sa'lath."

The glass from the health poultice shattered in Tamlen's hand. "His one love? Since when did the two of you share such a bond?"

"What are you talking about? Fen and I were never more than kin of the same clan."

"And yet he kept you from my arms longer than you should've been."

"What do you want me to tell you, Tamlen?!" She rounded on him, slightly out of breath but getting more angry and annoyed by the second. "Ma emma lath. (You are my love.) I chose you! Do you want me to say I never loved him? That I never cared for him? That I never imagined a life as his wife, bearing his children, as I have done with you?"

"I want you to tell me if you still loved him when you chose me."

"Of course I did! But I still chose you because I loved you more."

"Why?" Tamlen looked into her enraged eyes defiantly.

"Why what?"

"Why did you choose me? Why did you love me more?"

"Did I not just answer that?"

"No."

"I chose you because you are who you are. I loved you. That should be reason enough."

"And yet, Fen's death has ostracized you from me. You don't care about anything but Fen and that stupid dagger of his. I know he meant a lot to you, but if you truly cared for me more than him, you wouldn't have just tossed me aside."

"I know!" Sarana roared, fighting back her anger. "I know I have changed, but I am angry and I cannot stop it. I was weak when those wretched shem tried to massacre us. Now, I have to be strong. I'm sorry, but that girl you fell in love with is still here, she still loves you. But she cannot see beyond the hurt and pain, and she is tired of trying."

"You would give in to the hatred?"

"To make the pain go away?! Of course!"

The couple was silent. Tamlen was obviously still not happy about feeling second best to Fen, but Sarana didn't know what else to do. He'd never acted this way when Fen was alive, even when she'd told him that Fen had asked to court her. She sighed and walked towards the door. He silently rose to follow. She pushed open the door and drew her bow as a roar shook the room, causing dust to shower them from above. A massive bereskarn raced towards them and she barely managed to roll out of the way. She and Tamlen moved to either side of the room and rained the beast with arrows until it looked like a giant bloody porcupine. Tamlen suddenly dropped his bow and raced forward with his shield and swung it hard, cracking the creature over the head with enough force to stun him momentarily before burying his sword in its skull.

Sarana sheathed her weapon and turned towards the only thing in the room, a mirror.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Tamlen asked as he walked up to the pedestal on which it sat, completely forgetting his weapons. "I wonder what the writing says."

"Perhaps back the hell away so we can go tell the keeper?" Sarana suggested.

"Did you see that? I think something moved inside the mirror."

"Get away from it, Tamlen!" She warned, feeling a sickening dread come upon her. "We should leave. Now."

"Hold on, I just want to take a closer look." Tamlen stepped closer and touched the mirror's surface, creating ripples in the glass. "It's showing me places. I can see some kind of city...underground... and there's a great blackness. It saw me! Help! I can't look away! Sarana!" There was an explosion of white light, then blackness.

"Gods, lethallan!" Sarana recognized her clanmate's voice before she'd even opened her eyes. Fenarel. "You're back at camp. Everyone is worried sick about you. How do you feel?"

"Weak, groggy. Wait! Where's Tamlen? How did I get here?" Sarana began to panic.

"We don't know what happened to Tamlen. The shem who brought you here saw no sign of him."

"Shem?!"

"A shem brought you back two days ago. You don't remember him?" Fenarel asked with a worried look.

"Wait, I've been here for two days?!"

"He was a Grey Warden and appeared out of nowhere with you slung over his shoulder. He brought you here and left, saying he'd found you outside a cave in the forest, delirious and barely alive. The keeper has been using old magic to heal you."

"Of all the creatures in the forest that could have saved me, it had to be a fucking shem. I need to talk to the keeper right away."

Fenarel nodded. "Stay here, I'll get her. She wants to talk to you as well."

Keeper Marethari came to her tent moments later. "Are you well, Da'len? When Duncan brought you back, I feared for your life. I know not what dark power held you, but it nearly bled the life from you. It was difficult even for my magic to keep you alive."

"Then Tamlen could be sick as well?" Sarana asked. "Has there been any sign? I cannot lose him too, Keeper."

"There has been none, child, but we are searching. If you were barely able to withstand the darkness that held you, even with my magic, Tamlen is suffering far worse without it."

Sarana wanted to cry, she wanted to scream. "This cannot happen. I have to go look for him."

"Duncan said he found you outside the cave...alone. He thought there may have been darkspawn creatures inside. Is that true?"

"There were spiders, walking corpses, a bear. The bear was bloody, with spikes in its back. Did the shem look for Tamlen?!"

"Dark magic but not darkspawn. We are looking for Tamlen but I need to know what you found in that cave. What else do you know? What else do you remember?"

Sarana closed her eyes and massaged her temples. "A mirror. Tamlen touched it."

"A mirror caused all of this? I have never heard of such a thing in all the lore we have collected. I'd hoped for answers when you awoke. There are so many questions. Let us find Tamlen. Duncan went back to the cave to search for darkspawn but we cannot assume he will search for Tamlen as well. Do you feel well enough to show us the way, da'len? Without you, we will not find it."

"I am, Keeper. I feel fine. Anything to bring Tamlen home." Sarana said. Marethari placed a hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture. "We will find him . Also, I want you to take Merrill with you. She is training to be keeper and is very experienced in matters such as these."

"Understood Keeper." She departed for the camp outskirts and was not surprised to find Fenarel waiting there. No words needed to be spoken as he joined her to look for Merrill. Merrill introduced herself and unnecessarily repeated their mission but Sarana did not comment. She just wanted to find Tamlen. Her love. "Let's head out now."

"What about Fenarel? We were supposed to go alone. Have you asked the Keeper about this?" Merrill demanded.

"He's coming." Sarana growled. "Any more objections." She said, purposefully phrasing the sentence as a statement rather than a question, as at the moment she didn't give a damn if there were. She was not about to waste precious time when they could be looking for Tamlen.

"Fine, but if the Keeper gets angry, it'll be on your head."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hello Everyone, I have decided that since I have so many stories and ideas for more, that I'll update the stories by category and/or by whichever story has the most reviews. For reviews, I would love detailed feedback on the stories, what you liked, what you didn't like, what you didn't understand, etc. You get the drift.

I'm really sorry for the stories that haven't been updated in a while. I just finished with honors chemistry and it was kicking my ass. So sorry, I'll try to do better with the updates.

Thanks!


End file.
